Collateral Damage
by defying3reason
Summary: Hal's having some inappropriate thoughts about Barry and, as the man's wedding looms nearer he's worried about ruining his friendship. Ollie gives him some unconventional advice. Slash, Hal/?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Alright everyone, this is my first smut-fic so please be nice. I'm in unfamiliar turf and painfully aware that this is a cliched premise. Thanks to xkyoxdiex, who looked it over for me and gave me some encouraging feedback._

**Collateral Damage**

"What, you're not afraid, are you?"

Hal was still seething at the words, almost a full week after the taunt. Sure it was childish and petty, but that didn't make it less effective. He'd been handpicked by an advanced alien race for the duty of wielding the galaxy's most powerful weapon specifically because of his fearlessness, so no, he wasn't afraid. This was totally…_something else_.

Something kind of like fear, admittedly…okay, he was hesitant. But it was the result of a natural sense of caution, not fear.

Of course, he'd tried explaining that to Ollie. At that point they'd been on the road together for over a week. In between adventures and near death experiences, there'd been lots of time for chit chat. At first Ollie had mostly preached, then when Hal got a chance he'd told stories of his exploits, and Ollie had preached some more and cut in with a few of his own exploits…and eventually they'd run out of shit to talk about. Which meant eventually they'd started talking about shit they hadn't told anyone else. Hal was now privy to some of Ollie's secrets, but Ollie was also privy to his. Including a biggie.

"You're in love with the Flash?"

"I said I think I _might_ be, and will you keep it down?"

"We're in the middle of nowhere Hal, no one's gonna hear my whimsical cries of shock. Now you're not messing with me, are you? You, ladies-man Hal Jordan, think you're in love with your best friend?"

He shrugged and looked out the window. "It's just…what I've been doing with the girls feels kind of, I don't know, hollow. I have real conversations with Barry, that's all. I haven't said anything to him because I don't even understand how I feel, and I'm not used to that."

"Yeah, plus he's a conservative Missouri boy. I hear they're not particularly friendly towards the gays in his neck of the woods," Ollie pointed out, as though Hal hadn't thought that over several hundred times already.

"And then there's his female fiancée…I don't know Ollie. Do you think I'm just screwed up over what happened between me and Carol, or…"

"Hey man, I can't tell you if you're gay or not. Only you can figure that out."

"So how do I figure it out? You're Mr. Liberal. Explain it to me."

Ollie tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, thinking for a moment. "I don't suppose you had to go to college to become a test pilot?"

"Not a standard university or anything, but I did have to take some classes-"

"Right, so you didn't have a bicurious experience with a roommate, is what I'm getting at."

Hal snorted, as though it were obvious. "Well I've always thought I was straight, so I didn't see the need to experiment."

"Well you're feeling it now, aren't you? Just find a guy who's interested and check. You're pretty good at charming the ladies. Bet you can find a guy easy enough. Every major city's got a gay neighborhood."

Hal frowned. "I really don't think-I mean, it's just…it's just Barry."

"Fine then. Sit on it and get progressively more and more uncomfortable whenever he talks to you about his fiancée. Should be wife any week now though, huh?"

Hal glared at him. "So if I do…_check_…with some guy…and I'm straight, like I'm pretty sure I am, how do I keep it from getting out? That's the kinda thing that could come back to haunt a guy. Any bright ideas?"

"Sure." Ollie looked at Hal out of the corner of his eye. "Pay the guy to keep his mouth shut."

Hal laughed, then realized Ollie was serious. "Wait, you're not joking? Are you really advising me to pick up a male prostitute? Are those even real?"

"Plenty real. There are a few neighborhoods in Star just swarming with them. I've been trying to fund some projects to get the guys off the streets and hooked up with jobs, but it's kinda hard. The public would rather pretend they don't exist. You think people put on their blinders about lady streetwalkers, it's actually worse with the guys. But they're there and I'm sure one of them wouldn't mind helping you figure yourself out. It'd probably be an easy night's work considering what they're used to."

"Ollie, that's just…"

"Then forget I said anything."

Which was much easier said than done. Hal's musings about his sexuality were shifting into consuming thoughts, even a sort of paranoia. He needed to figure out if a guy could do it for him, and if the answer was no, then his friendship with Barry could go back to exactly what it had been before. Just a normal friendship between two attractive guys of about the same age. He wanted that desperately, and all he needed to do was prove to himself that he was straight.

By paying a guy for sex.

By the time he and Ollie were passing through Star City, Hal had devised himself a plan. Ollie was taking off for a couple days to check up on his girlfriend and his civilian life, leaving Hal to get acquainted with Ollie's home turf on his own. He'd find one of those neighborhoods Ollie was talking about, see if he was attracted to any of the prostitutes, overpay them to make up for what they were doing, and as soon as he'd confirmed his heterosexuality he'd leave and never think about it again.

It sounded like a plan, anyway. Kind of…

The neighborhood Hal ended up taking his stroll through looked like any other decrepit, crime infested place he'd seen. There were a few different pay by the hour hotels, along with twenty four hour convenience stores, a few bars and clubs, and plenty of shadowy corners for people to slink off to do god knows what in. Hal considered using his power ring to alter his appearance, but on thinking it over he decided to leave his power ring entirely out of the night's activities.

He walked down a grimy street, glancing at the men he passed out of the corner of his eye, wondering how he was supposed to tell who was a prostitute or not. Beyond that, he wondered what kind of prostitute he should pick. Maybe someone who looked like Barry? Was that creepy? That _was_ kinda creepy.

"Hey there, are you lost?" A young man asked, grinning at Hal with an amused gleam in his green eyes. Hal found himself smiling back.

"What makes you say that?"

"I've been standing on this corner for like a half hour now, and I've seen you walk by at least four times. If you're lost I can give you directions," He offered. The guy really was young, probably still a teen. He was an attractive kid, with dark auburn hair, broad shoulders, and a muscular build, accentuated by his tight ripped jeans and a baggy but thin t-shirt. His stubby fingernails were painted black and he wore dark eyeliner, which contrasted sharply with his pale skin.

"Why have you been standing on a corner for a half hour?" Hal asked.

The kid grinned again. "I'll be sure to tell you if you're not lost."

"I don't think I am."

"I thought so." He nodded at Hal, sizing him up. "Looking for company, but you've never picked up a hooker before, right?"

"Possibly." Hal didn't want to commit himself, although this was much more comfortable than staring at strangers trying to figure out who was selling themselves and who wasn't. "You're a little young to be doing this, aren't you?"

"Look, since it's your first time I'll indulge you and give you an answer. I'm nineteen, and all the guys doing this are pretty young. We don't really have a lot of options. But it's a courtesy not to rub our noses in it by pointing shit like that out, okay?"

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"Wow, that was cute. So do you wanna get acquainted somewhere or do you need directions? If you got a type, I can help you find him for a finder's fee."

His type was older, a little more slender, with spiky blond hair and a strong jaw, but there was something about this kid…

"What do you offer?" Hal asked.

"What's your price range?" The kid returned. Hal frowned, unsure how to answer that. He had no idea what reasonable rates for prostitution were and was sure he'd say something ridiculous. The teen picked up on that, and let out an exasperated sigh. "What do you want? Do you want a blow job, a hand job, something kinky, something traditional? Do you wanna have a quickie in an alley or do you wanna get a room or do it in a car or something? I'm telling you right now though, if you wanna take me anywhere it's gonna cost you. Security risk and all that."

Hal nodded. "I think…I'd like to get a room. Alleys don't exactly strike my fancy."

* * *

><p>The room looked clean, but then Hal was also glad he wasn't using his ring, because he couldn't have stopped himself from doing a sweep of the place and seeing how many traces of bodily fluids he could find.<p>

Suddenly feeling much more awkward now that there was a bed present, he hovered uncertainly by the door, making a big production of removing his jacket. The hooker toed his shows off and collapsed onto the bed, stretching across the mattress with much more abandon than Hal would have without doing a quick power ring sterilization.

The teen sat up and stripped off his shirt in a fluid motion. Hal wondered if it was normal for teenage prostitutes to put in hours at the gym. The kid's body was _perfect_; toned biceps, flat abs, just the right amount of chest hair and a ginger happy trail disappearing into his jeans. He was staring, and that's when it occurred to Hal maybe it wasn't just Barry. Maybe he was a little bicurious.

"Hey, are you joining me or do I just gotta put on a show?" The kid asked playfully, raking a hand over his concave stomach before sliding his calloused fingers under the hem of his jeans. Hal finally removed his shoes and coat and joined him on the bed.

"No show, I'm here to participate."

"Cool. It'd be all kinds of bitter irony if my first hot John was the hands off type."

Before Hal could process the bizarre bit of flattery, the teen was kissing him, and kissing him well. Of course, it was technically his job to be good at this, but Hal could still appreciate the skill. He caressed the boy's jaw line with one hand, taking dominance in the kiss with strong strokes of his tongue and gentle nibbles on the boy's lips.

His eyes drifted shut and he let out a delicious moan. "You're good at that," The teen said dreamily when they broke for air. Hal grinned, even though he realized the kid probably said that multiple times a night. He kissed the boy again, rougher, with some desperation behind it. The boy climbed onto Hal's lap, straddling him and grinding down. Hal kissed and sucked along the teen's neck as he continued grinding on his lap. He was breathing heavy, getting a full dose of the boy's intoxicating musk with every pant. This was already driving him crazy, and they'd barely started.

Definitely not just Barry then.

"Nnn…w-wait, wait a sec…lemme…here…mmm…keep doing that…" The boy whined, and Hal complied by sucking at a spot he'd just raked with his teeth. The kid stopped grinding and pulled his hips back a little, so he could get his hands between them. He had his hand down Hal's pants before he really knew what was happening, and it was his turn for a surprised moan. Those calloused fingers around his cock had him babbling incoherently.

The kid pushed him back against the mattress and leisurely pulled Hal's pants and underpants down to his knees. He sat up on his elbows so he could watch the kid play with him. The kid had a strong grip, with wonderful texture and friction. He started thinking that a hand job alone might be worth what he'd been intending to pay for the full night.

Then the teen locked eyes with him, a smile spreading across his face as he watched Hal watch him. "So what do you want…do you want me to…hm?" He let his mouth hang open, pink tongue darting out to swipe at the air. Hal moaned involuntarily, eyes fluttering shut again. He nodded. The kid grinned. "Alright, I think I can do that."

"F-fuck!" Hal's head hit the mattress as the teen swallowed him down. He'd been expecting a little tongue teasing, maybe some licks across the head with some more stroking at the base of his cock, but no, a full deep throat. The beautiful, talented hooker sucked and pumped and stroked and Hal was coming harder than he'd ever come in his entire life. When his vision cleared it was to see the pretty, pretty teen licking cum off his fingers.

"That was…" Hal didn't have words for what that was.

"Fun." The kid flopped down next to Hal, throwing an arm over his chest. He placed an affectionate kiss on Hal's cheek. "You done, or do you just need a breather before the next act?"

"What's the next act?" Hal asked, wondering how his body would feel about another orgasm of that intensity (not that it mattered, he'd put his body through much worse).

"Whatever you want it to be, but I was kind of assuming you'd want to fuck me." He reached into his jeans pocket and extracted a bottle of lube and a condom. "Kinda _hoping_ you'd want to, actually."

"You don't need to flatter me. You're getting paid."

"Yeah, but it's not every night I get to enjoy my work." He kissed Hal, and guided a hand down to his groin to give it a squeeze. Even through the restrictive jeans, he could tell the kid was excited.

"Alright, you convinced me," Hal croaked. He took off his shirt and finished kicking his pants and boxers off while the teen whipped off his own jeans and…ah, no undergarments. Well that was convenient. Hal couldn't help but stare at the boy's cock. He'd never seen another man's erect penis before.

The kid wiggled his hips. "You can touch it if you want."

"Sorry. This is a little new to me."

"This is your first time with a guy? Like, at all?" The surprise seemed genuine, which was kind of nice.

"Yes…I'd figured that'd be obvious."

"Not with the way you kiss. Alright, I'll be gentle," He teased. And then they were kissing again, rubbing up against each other with no clothing between them, just skin on skin. It was even better than before. Every panted inhalation had the boy's intoxicating scent washing over him, his moans and gasps filled Hal's ears, and the slide of their bodies against each other was heavenly.

Then the teen pressed something into his hand. Hal looked uncomprehendingly at the lube. "You've really never done this before?" The kid gasped against his ear. "Alright, before anything interesting happens I gotta get stretched. If you don't wanna finger me, I can do it myself but you're definitely slicking yourself before we do anything. No one pays me enough for tearing."

"I won't hurt you," Hal promised. "I don't get off on that kind of shit."

"Good." His voice was firm with determination, but there was something haunted in his eyes. Momentarily, Hal had to wonder what kind of circumstances had led this beautiful young creature to having sex with strangers in alleyways and dirty motels. But considering he was taking full advantage of the situation, he couldn't dwell on it too long. He pressed a tender kiss to the boy's lips and then asked to be guided through the process of stretching him.

Hal guided the teen down onto the bed, so that his back was on the mattress with his hips raised just enough for Hal's hand to comfortably do its work. While his lubed fingers were exploring the boy's backside, he decided to make the most of his opportunity to explore another bit of male anatomy. The teen gasped in surprise when Hal's other hand felt its way along his cock. He could feel the rumble of the boy's laughter vibrating up his palm.

"Feeling adventurous are we?"

"A bit," Hal answered with his own wicked grin. Then he leaned down and licked the head of the hooker's cock. He couldn't say he cared for the taste or the smell, but the texture was interesting. Velvety and sticky, and the more he gently lapped at the slit the less he minded the taste. The sounds coming out of his companion were plenty encouraging, at any rate. Hal took more of the erection into his mouth and gave it a long, hard suck.

"F-fuck! Fuck! Oh…oh man, you've gotta cut the shit and fuck me or I'm gonna cum!" The kid babbled. Reluctantly, Hal let the cock slip from his mouth. That was a lot more fun than he'd thought it would be.

"Are you really ready?" He asked.

"Yes. God, yes, please. Fuck me," He panted.

"Happy to." Hal rolled on the condom, slicked himself up, and then slowly pushed his way into his young lover. For a long moment they both panted against each other, adjusting to the sensation, which was like nothing Hal had ever felt before. Even a virgin wasn't this tight.

"Move," The boy whispered. Hal was happy to comply. He started off with gentle thrusts, mindful of his promise and what the hooker had said about his limits, but a combination of impatient whines and raised hips meeting his thrusts encouraged him to push harder, and harder. The teen jerked himself in time to Hal's thrusts, letting out the most erotic moan Hal had ever heard when he finally orgasmed. Hal didn't outlast him by much.

They slowly regained their breath, sprawled in a sweaty tangle of limbs. Hal carefully pulled out of his young lover, kissing his brow as he did so. The boy made a whining sound, then curled against Hal while he tied off the condom and chucked it away. He pushed back the boy's sweaty auburn bangs and placed a kiss on his forehead. "That was fantastic. I can't believe I've never tried that before."

"I can't believe you thought you'd have to be desperate enough to pay," The boy purred. "I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but you could have just gone down to a club and picked someone up. Seriously, guys do the vanilla stuff for free," He teased.

"I don't want it getting around that I'm…"

"Ah. You're a closet case. That's fine, I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks." Hal returned the teen's embrace, and the kid pillowed his head on Hal's chest. He looked relaxed, like he was really experiencing the afterglow instead of just business. Hal knew he shouldn't read too much into this, that the kid was probably just one hell of an actor, but it was still a nice little ego boost to think he'd rocked his prostitute's world the first time he'd slept with a man. Oh yeah, Hal Jordan was just that fucking good. "So what's my tab?" He asked, while raking his fingers through the soft hair.

"Blow, anal, and a room?" He thought about it for a second and rattled off a rate.

Hal frowned. "That's not really that expensive."

"It's a competitive business in these parts. You can pay more if you want. I won't stop you."

Hal's pants were in a crumpled pile on the floor by the bed. He hooked his toe into a belt loop and bent his knee until he could reach his wallet with the hand that wasn't caressing the prostitute. The boy laughed. "Wow, you shoulda told me you were that flexible."

Hal took out his wallet and pressed some crumpled bills into the boy's hand. He allowed himself one more kiss, then started to dress.

"Hey, I think you counted wrong." The boy caught his arm as he was leaving. Hal turned to face him and frowned, noticing for the first time how _incredibly_ young the hooker was. There was no way he was nineteen. Hal hoped he was at least seventeen. He could have been much younger, the way he looked standing in front of the bed holding a sheet around his waist.

"No, I counted right. Take the rest of the night off if you can. You earned it."

He counted out the bills again. "That's my rent for the next two months. Are you sure? I might be a hooker, but I'm not a thief. I'm only letting myself sink so far."

"Same here," Hal said solemnly. "I don't normally take advantage of people like this, and if I can make it up in some way I'd like to. Take as many nights off as my money will let you, okay?"

He nodded. "I will. Th-thank you."

Hal left him to get dressed and tried to pretend the money made a difference.

* * *

><p>He was still thinking about the prostitute a couple days later when he met up with Ollie again. Ever since they'd parted ways, Hal found himself unconsciously scanning crowds, looking for a familiar head of auburn hair, and hoping the kid was okay. It was definitely good for his sanity that Ollie had called for a team up, something about a drug ring. It sounded like an easy case. Something distracting and relatively mindless.<p>

The mindless distraction led them to a squalid room inhabited by some teenage boys, regular customers of their drug lord. Ollie burst in on them, and two of the boys started fighting them with paranoid desperation while the third went still, staring at them in shock.

It was the hooker. For a moment, Hal thought the look of terrified recognition was reserved for him, even though he was in full Lantern getup with his mask. But the beautiful green eyes were fixed on Green Arrow.

"Speedy?" Ollie blurted out, and Hal felt his stomach drop to his knees.

Shit.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Alright, I give. It's no longer a one-shot. For the record, I always wanted to write a second chapter, I just had no idea where to take it. Now I've got an idea, but I'm not sure how you'll all feel about it. This one ends on a cliff hanger too, but the good news is that this means I'll have to write a third chapter. Enjoy!_

**Chapter Two**

So he'd had sex with Ollie's missing ward. No matter how many times Hal ran over it in his mind, he couldn't make it less horrifying. Simple repetition should have at least dulled the shock by now, but no. He'd had sex with Ollie's missing teenage ward.

On the plus side, at least now he knew how old the teen actually was. Roy Harper was turning seventeen next month. Another year after that and he'd even be legal.

At least his friendship with Barry was salvageable. Hal was reasonably sure he wasn't in love with his best friend anymore (if he ever had been), but now his friendship with Ollie was good and firmly tanked.

How could he have gone through with it? Even if Roy hadn't been connected to Ollie, there would have been someone in his life that cared about him. Some concerned relative who didn't need to find out their teenage charge was sleeping with strange men for money. He really thought he should tell Ollie, but the guy was going through enough right then, what with finding out Roy was using drugs (which was a shock for Hal too, and he was grateful Roy had insisted on using a condom).

He got Roy's address from Ollie under the pretense of checking up on him, seeing how he was taking to being clean. Ollie had thanked him profusely, grateful to have a friend who wanted to help him through this. "He won't talk to me. I've just been getting everything through Dinah. Man Hal, I coulda lost him. It would've been so easy. He could have OD'd any damn day while I was gone running around playing hero without him."

"Ollie, you didn't know."

"I should have though. Just, look, if he'll talk to you, let him know I'm sorry, okay? And…tell me if he's not okay, will you?"

"I promise Ollie."

And that's how he ended up in a neat, modernist looking apartment complex for what was sure to be one of the most awkward experiences of his life.

Roy's new place was on the eighth floor, so Hal took the elevator up. The building was undoubtedly nice, definitely a step up from how the kid had been living when Hal had met him, but there was something cold and, just..._off_ about the place. For one thing, Hal hadn't bumped into a single neighbor or visitor in the lobby, and he didn't see anyone in the hallway leading to Roy's apartment. He'd been hooked up with the place by some guy named Jupiter, who was financing the newest incarnation of the Titans.

Meaning Ollie wasn't involved. Roy didn't seem to need him for anything anymore.

Roy answered the door wearing low riding sweatpants and nothing else. Hal's eyes raked him over before he could stop himself. He looked different from the last time Hal had seen him. He'd gotten a hair cut (which was too bad, the longer hair had looked good on him). He was paler, thinner, but carrying himself defensively, with an undercurrent of vivacious energy.

It was faded, but the barest bit of the hickey Hal had given him was still visible.

"Hey. Figured you'd be around sooner or later."

"Don't you think we should talk?" Hal asked. Roy's eyes were like ice. He stepped aside to let Hal into an immaculately clean and impersonal little apartment. The room he was standing in was both living room and kitchenette, and there were two doors, presumably to a bedroom and a bathroom.

Hal sat down on the firm couch while Roy disappeared into the bedroom to grab a shirt. He returned a moment later and sat down on his coffee table facing Hal. "So…does Ollie know?"

"Do you wanna tell him?" Hal asked pointedly. Roy snorted, dropping his ice mask for a moment.

"Hell no. I don't think he ever needs to know. He, uh, already feels bad enough about me using. And I wanted him to feel bad, but…I think enough's enough."

Hal nodded. "Good. Is it really his fault, what happened?"

"Course it is! Who the fuck takes in an orphan and then ditches him out of the blue to go on a fucking road trip?" Roy snapped, the anger coming on so suddenly Hal didn't know what to make of it. "He knows I've got abandonment issues, so either he's just that fucking stupid and selfish or he wanted to see how crazy he could drive me and how self destructive I could get! The heroin was for that. And the hooking was…I didn't have a choice. He didn't leave me any money or food, just a fucking bag of beer cans to cash in. We were getting evicted. I had to find a place to live and get my own food and everything, and I managed. So I'm not a total fuck up."

"I'm really sorry Roy."

"For what? For my situation or taking advantage of it?" Roy asked. He wiped at his eyes, and let out a bitter laugh. "Don't worry about it. I lied about my age and you had no idea who I was. If prostitution weren't illegal, you wouldn't have really done anything wrong."

"I knew it was wrong and I still…"

"Succumbed to my wily charms?" Roy wriggled his eyebrows. Hal snorted.

"This is supposed to be serious."

"I've been dealing with a lot of serious lately. I'm kinda done. Can't we just leave it at we had a little fun together that we don't need to tell Ollie about and let it go?"

Hal gritted his teeth and just pushed it out. "I hurt you."

"No you didn't."

"I took advantage of you."

"Kind of. I didn't know who you were either, and if I'd met you at a bar some other night I totally would have hit on you." Roy smiled self consciously. "You're kinda hot."

"I know, but-"

"Dude! You're not supposed to say 'I know' when someone says that!"

Hal smiled. "Well I am hot. The point is, what I did was still wrong. And I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted, if it'll get you to stop brooding. Look, Hal…I had fun. So we don't need to make a big thing of it, okay?"

Hal stared at Roy, scrutinizing him. "You don't have to lie about it anymore. It was my first time trying anything with a man. I couldn't have been that good."

"I'm already getting envious of the guys who get to sleep with you when you're experienced," Roy returned. "You were good, I promise. I considered that to be one hell of a night. Free room, I made a ridiculous amount of money, and I got to sleep with a really hot, adorable closet case. It was fun. Kinda wish you weren't friends with my mentor."

"Yeah, no kidding."

Roy gave him an appraising look. "Kay, did not expect to hear that from the Green Lantern."

Hal shrugged. "Seems pretty pointless to deny the chemistry. I like you Roy. I want to see you get better, so stay off the damn drugs."

Roy mock saluted him. "Yes sir. Come on dude, that's not even an issue anymore." Hal gave him a pointed look, and after a moment Roy visibly deflated under the scrutiny. Some vulnerability made it through his arrogant facade. "I just…I was depressed. I am doing better now though."

"Really?"

"Yes really! I've been spending more time with the Titans and Ollie's girlfriend is actually really chill. So I've got a better peer group."

"Mm. They only encourage the self-destructive tendencies directly related to costumed adventuring, right?" Hal joked.

Roy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, pretty much. Look, heroin lost a lot of the appeal when my best friend OD'ed. And I promise I was always careful. I never shared needles or anything, so, so you're clean."

"I didn't come here about that." Though it had crossed his mind. He'd gotten a blood test just to be sure, which was probably just a good idea in general even only considering his heterosexual activity.

"Well why are you here Hal?" Roy asked. "I'm fine, you're...undamaged, and, well, what else?" He looked straight at Hal, all youth, and the vulnerability was still there, but there was something else. There was some hope in those pretty green eyes.

Hal swallowed. He'd forgotten why he was there too. "Ollie thinks I'm checking up on you as a favor to him."

"Oh." Roy glanced down at his hands. "So it's about him?"

"No, that's just how I got your address. Roy, I don't know what to say. I'm here because I thought I should see you."

"You said you like me. That we have chemistry."

"You're sixteen."

"How old are you?" Roy asked.

Hal narrowed his eyes. "Illegal."

"Yeah, because we've both shown the utmost respect for the law so far," Roy returned with a cocky grin. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and in the process invading Hal's personal space.

Hal couldn't help smiling back at him, even though he knew it wasn't going to help him plead his case. "We're supposed to be superheroes. We're not supposed to break laws."

"Like due process? What about breaking and entering?"

"You're really frustrating, you know that?"

"Then you should let me frustrate you in the fun way," he said with a wink.

Hal bit back a sigh of exasperation. Why had he thought this was a good idea again? He'd already been pulled to this kid when it was just a bad idea to get close to him; now that he knew _how_ bad an idea it was he wanted Roy even more. Not only was he gorgeous and clever (and talented in the sack, which never hurt), he was also strong in a way he didn't seem to be aware of.

Roy might actually have a will to match Hal's, if he could give up drugs cold turkey. Not to mention looking after himself after his guardian had taken off.

Roy was leaning forward so much that their faces were very close together. Hal could feel Roy's exhalations against his skin. He licked his suddenly dry lips, tempted to lean forward that extra little bit and close the distance between them.

Instead, like the responsible adult he wished he felt like, he got up and walked towards the door. Roy caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Hey, don't go! I'll lay off the flirting. I can behave, I promise."

Hal regarded him with wry amusement. "I somehow doubt that."

"Well I'll try." He did sound like he meant that, at least.

Hal stroked a hand down the side of Roy's face. "You're getting your life back together. Do you really think a fling with an older man will help that along? I like you Roy. I like you way too much to hurt you."

"You won't." Roy put a hand over Hal's, holding it in place against his skin. "I don't let people hurt me anymore."

"Roy..."

Roy grabbed Hal's wrist, the fingers of his other hand sliding between Hal's and guiding them towards his mouth. He could feel himself getting excited.

Now would be an excellent time to pull away and finish walking for that door.

"Will you still be around when I'm eighteen?" Roy asked. "Because I really don't wanna take any chances on that." Then he sucked Hal's index and middle finger into his oh-so-talented mouth, reminding Hal's lower regions exactly how great that mouth had felt on his cock, and making it almost impossible to think rationally.

Ollie would kill him if he found out.

But they'd already done this once...

"You really suck, you know that kid?"

Hal pulled his hand away from Roy's mouth, pressed his back against the door (he'd almost made it!) and kissed him hard, tongue teasing against Roy's the way he'd just been teasing Hal's fingers. Roy moaned, going limp and pliable against Hal's demanding body. His teeth were scraping against Roy's lips, but he didn't give it much thought until he tasted a coppery tang mingling with the kid's own flavor (so maybe he'd dreamt about kissing Roy a couple times since they'd parted ways). Hal broke the kiss and stared at him.

He was panting, chest rising and falling rapidly against Hal's. There was a healthy flush to his too damn pale skin, and his lower lip was bleeding.

Hal had never felt dirtier for being so turned on before.

Roy closed his eyes and clung to Hal, burying his face in the crook of his neck. "Please don't leave," he whispered.

"I already tried that plan. It didn't work." He tilted Roy's face up and kissed him again, gentler this time. He sucked the abused lower lip and ran his tongue over the cut, soothing it. Roy's embrace became a little less desperate, and once Roy seemed reassured that he wasn't going to take off on him he pulled away a little, keeping one arm around the teen while his other stroked Roy's face. "So what, we going to do this against your front door?"

Roy smirked. "We could. That'd be kinda hot." He trailed one bare foot up Hal's leg, toes getting under his jeans and rubbing against his bare skin. Hal's cock throbbed painfully in his damn jeans, and he wanted them off ASAP.

"That'd be very hot, but I'm not sure how your neighbors'd feel about it." It seemed like a really bad idea to put on a show, even if it was only an auditory one. "You do have a bed, don't you?"

Roy sighed, but nodded and pulled Hal towards his bedroom. Hal followed after, molding his body right back to Roy's as soon as they were at the doorway. He was planning on pushing Roy onto the bed and getting right back to groping, but he couldn't help a start of surprise when Roy turned the lights on.

He had to turn the lights on even though it was the middle of the day, because the bedroom was basically a windowless cell. Everything in it was a dull grey, including the bed. The thing was a hard little block of mattress and sheets that might be able to comfortably sleep a ten year old if they didn't move around too much. It couldn't have been comfortable for Roy and would certainly not fit two healthy, athletic males.

Hal arched an eyebrow.

"I think Mr. Jupiter thinks I'm a slut," Roy said. "It's the only explanation I've got. I'm the only one with a bedroom designed to deter company."

"You're also the only one having a tryst with an older man. Jupiter might have a point."

"Hey, I'm the only one we know of, okay? I wouldn't be at all surprised if Robin-"

"Let's not go there," Hal said, cutting him off. They all made the jokes about Bruce and his little leggy sidekick (as long as everyone was absolutely sure Bruce couldn't hear them), but frankly there was nothing sexy about fish scale man panties and Hal did not need those mental images at the moment.

He took another look at the bed, appraising it while mining through his past experiences for some position that wouldn't kill their backs.

"You've got a couch," Hal finally said, admitting defeat on the bed.

Roy pulled away when Hal tried to lead him back to the living room. "The couch isn't that much better than the bed. C'mere, I've got a better idea."

Hal followed Roy to the other door which, as he'd thought, went to the bathroom.

The bathroom was gigantic, and included a sizable bathtub with an elaborate massaging showerhead that detached. Hal gaped at the room in open mouthed wonder.

"See, the thing about Jupiter is he's got a lot of good intentions, but he doesn't think things through," Roy explained. "He thought we'd need good sized tubs for cleaning off our injuries and then soaking our sore muscles after all our training and crimefighting. Which is true. But I've theorized that this is probably an excellent place to fuck."

Hal nodded. "You might be right about that."

Roy stripped off his shirt and tossed it back into the living room. "Gonna help me find out?"

"Oh absolutely."

Hal hastily tore his clothes off while Roy started the shower. He was reaching a hand in to feel the water when Hal grabbed him around the waist, climbed in, and pulled Roy after him. He pressed the laughing teen against him, loving the way Roy's smooth skin felt under his hands with the added slide of warm water.

"I'm still wearing my pants!" Roy said with a laugh.

"Easily remedied." Hal slid down Roy's body, placing open mouthed kisses along his chest, and pulled the wet fabric down to Roy's knees. He stopped there, since he was eye level with Roy's hard cock. It was distracting.

Roy backed up until he was balanced on a ledge in the tiled wall. 'Maybe we should look for hidden cameras', Hal thought. There was no way this Jupiter guy could give a teenager a bathroom designed like that and expect them to only clean their injuries. Besides that Roy Harper naked, wet and hard was a work of art. A man would have to be insane not to want a peek at that.

Roy stroked his hands through Hal's damp hair, urging him on. Taking the hint, Hal settled between his legs and took Roy in his mouth. The first time he'd done this he'd barely gotten a chance to start before Roy had demanded to be fucked. He was determined to take his time with this second opportunity, because one thing Hal had discovered about himself was that he very much liked having a cock in his mouth.

He sucked slowly, not moving much and savoring the sensations. Roy gasped, digging his fingers into Hal's scalp and wiggling his hips, wordlessly asking him to pick up the pace. Hal gripped the base of the Roy's erection and squeezed him as his head bobbed up and down. He slid a hand under Roy's knee, extracting that leg from the tangled mess of his sweatpants, and then hooked it over his back so he could slide lower, closer, taking more of Roy into his mouth. At that point he had to move his hand out of the way.

Hal thought he was doing pretty good considering he'd never really done this before. Roy wasn't exactly modest in the size department, but there were ginger curls tickling his nose. He moved rapidly, seeing how fast he could go while still sucking Roy that far down his throat and really getting into it, loving the sounds his lover was making.

Hal couldn't help but wonder why so many girls complained about doing this. Then Roy let out a particularly loud whine as he came, and Hal's mouth was suddenly uncomfortably full of cock, cum and saliva.

He'd never tasted cum before. That was something he was going to have to get used to. Whatever, he was willing to acquire that particular taste.

Hal spit into the bottom of the tub and wiped his chin with his hand. Roy let out a breathy laugh. "The look on your face when I...when I came..."

"Oh shut up," Hal grumbled.

"You get used to it," Roy assured him. He pulled Hal up off his knees and into a hungry kiss, tasting himself in Hal's mouth. "I'll help you with that."

"God I hope so."

Hal straddled Roy, whose hands had wound through his hair again. They leisurely kissed for a few minutes, basking in each other's presence as Roy came down from his orgasm. Hal, however, was desperately hard at this point and his body was unwilling to gently cuddle with the beautiful young man for much longer.

As if he were psychic, Roy wrapped a hand around Hal's cock and started pumping him. His hand felt so good. Everything about this was good, and his brain was nicely dazed, not thinking about consequences beyond fantastic fucking orgasms. He wanted it to last forever.

They were both startled by a loud pounding on the front door.

Roy squeezed Hal so hard it actually hurt, and he cried out.

"Sorry," Roy hissed. He put his hands on Hal's waist and pushed, but Hal was too distracted to get the point and move. "Y'wanna get up so I can answer that and tell whoever it is to go fuck off?"

"Sorry. Y-yeah, of course." Hal unsteadily clambored off of Roy's lap and sat down on the ledge of the tub. Roy turned the shower off and grabbed a towel.

"Keep quiet. I'll be right back." He wrapped the towel around his waist and then went out into the main room.

The walls were pretty thin for such a new building, Hal thought with a scowl. He could hear every sound as Roy crossed the room and opened the door. "Yeah, what is i-Ollie?"

"Hey kiddo...can we talk?"

Hal bit back a groan and buried his face in his hands.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Now's not the best time, actually."

Hal squeezed his eyes shut and did his best not to voice his displeasure. Roy's voice was gruff and guarded; it sounded like he was lying about something, and considering the kid had only been clean for two weeks there was no way in hell Ollie was going to take off after hearing that.

"You hiding something from me Speedy?" Ollie asked, with that edge in his voice that Hal recognized perfectly: Green Arrow's personal pain in the ass level of determination.

"Oh what, you can't leave me alone for awhile even though you dropped in without calling or anything? You were more than happy to leave me alone a few months ago!" Roy snapped.

"And how many times do you want me to apologize for that? I'm sorry! I'm sorry beyond your self-absorbed comprehension, but I promised both of us that I was never going to let anything like that happen again. I'm here now because I wanna check up on you and fix this, and I feel like if I walk away right now then it's as good as when I walked away for that damn road trip. Now will you please let me in and talk for a little bit so I can reassure myself that you're not shooting up? I do want to believe that Roy."

Shit. It probably would be better to humor him for a little while. Hal did not like the idea of being the reason Ollie suddenly suspected Roy of relapsing.

But he didn't want to hide naked in a tub and listen to that conversation either.

"Fine, five minutes. Let me go throw some clothes on," Roy said with a sigh.

"Thanks kid."

Shit. Hal looked around the room and wondered if he'd be able to at least get his clothes back on without alerting Ollie to his presence. Though neither option was exactly appealing, if he had to choose between being found lurking in Roy's bathroom fully clothed and lurking in Roy's bathroom naked, he liked clothed a whole lot better.

He heard every little creak of the floor as Roy walked to his bedroom, which meant that if Hal walked over to the clothes pile by the bathroom door that Ollie would probably hear his footsteps just as clearly. Then he heard another noise he liked even less; the sounds of Ollie shuffling around the living room, snooping. He must be looking for drugs.

If that was the case then Hal didn't have much choice. He looked down at his hand and considered using the power ring to float the clothes to him. 'Oh yeah, good idea Hal. Because Ollie would _never_ notice a flash of green light coming from the bathroom.'

Shit-shit-shit. It sounded like Ollie was almost done with the kitchenette. Which meant the bathroom would be his next stop. Maybe he wouldn't hear Hal over the sounds of his own inept snooping (did he not expect Roy to freak out on him for that?).

He decided to risk it and, as quietly as possible, padded over to his clothes. He managed to fumble on his briefs and had his jeans halfway up his thighs when the door was suddenly whipped open.

There was a long moment where Hal and Ollie were simply staring at each other in mutual shock. Ollie's mouth fell open, and he tried to form words a few times but nothing came out (possibly a first). He looked kind of like a fish. At least Hal wasn't the least bit hard anymore. That would have been worse.

This wasn't exactly ideal though.

"Y-you you're _y-you_? Why are you here? Hal, why are you hiding in my sidekick's bathroom? Why were you in my sidekick's bathroom when _he_ was in the bathroom? Why were you in the bathroom when he was in the bathroom naked?" Ollie asked, looking lost. "Why weren't you wearing pants?"

"Uh…you're not going to make me say it, are you?"

Still with that agonizingly lost look on his face, Ollie turned around and walked back into the living room. Hal finished dressing as quickly as possible and stumbled out after him, still frantically buttoning his shirt.

Roy was just coming out of his bedroom. He took one look at Ollie, briefly locked eyes with Hal, and then turned back towards Ollie with a look of grim resignation. "You were snooping," he said, though he seemed to know that his indignation wouldn't count for much considering what Ollie had found.

Hal had never felt so guilty before. He kept waiting for Ollie to turn on him, to scream at him and berate him for taking advantage of a vulnerable teenager. He'd known it was wrong and he'd still given in. It was completely inexcusable; Hal was a Green Lantern. His weapon was powered by his will, meaning his will was better honed than anyone else on Earth. If he'd really wanted to, he would have left.

And yet half of him was still hoping Ollie would take off and he and Roy could get back in that bathroom and try out the massaging showerhead…

What Hal didn't expect was for Ollie to aim a punch at Roy.

Thankfully, Roy's reflexes were good. He ducked out of the way and rolled behind Ollie, getting the couch between them. Ollie's momentum kept going, and he ended up hitting the wall with enough force to send up puffs of plaster.

"_What the fuck is wrong with you_?" Ollie screamed. "_First drugs and now you're seducing my friends?_"

"Ollie calm down!" Roy yelled.

Hal tried to step between them, since Ollie was charging at Roy again. "Hal, get out of the way!" Ollie all but growled.

"I'm not going to let you hurt him," Hal said, trying his best to keep his voice steady. "Your hand is bleeding Ollie. Just sit down for a minute and cool off, okay-whoa! Ollie stop it!"

He'd lunged past Hal, but Roy had darted to the other side of the couch. They started circling it, eyes locked on each other, Roy's iced over while Ollie's blazed with emotion. Hurt, betrayal, and a worrying amount of anger.

Hal felt like the world's biggest asshole. He was still confused though. Why was Ollie mad at Roy? Hal was the adult. He was the one that should have known better.

Shaking it off, Hal pushed Ollie onto the couch with the help of his power ring and held him there, determined to do so until some of that dangerous looking emotion left him. He screamed curses exclusively at Roy while he was (hopefully) cooling off, seeming to forget about Hal entirely despite the green beam holding him in place.

"I don't know why I thought you were actually going to change this time! You're a diseased little fuck! Selfish son of a bitch! You wonder why I took off? I took off because you fucking pushed me out the door with your god damn shit! I couldn't take any more of it and now you're going to bring my friends into it, you goddamn fucking slut? Isn't enough that you're the whore of the Titans, oh no, now you gotta move on to the Justice League? You know how much crap I already get from people because of how fucking screwed up you are Roy?"

Hal would have gagged him, but he was too busy gaping at him in shock. He'd heard Ollie rant many a time, but never anything like that. He'd known for a good long while that his friend was having a hard time with his sidekick. It came up on the road trip more than once, but every time Ollie had talked about his problems with Roy he'd sounded sincerely worried and concerned for the safety and well being of his young partner. There had been no hint of this kind of explosive anger.

If anything, Ollie had always sounded mad at himself for not being strong enough to help a kid with so many problems. And that was _before_ knowing about the drugs.

And he still didn't know about the prostitution. Hoo boy…

"Shut up-shut up-_will you just shut up_?" Roy screamed. Hal finally looked away from Ollie and immediately faltered when he saw Roy. His icy façade had probably given way some time ago, but Hal had been so focused on Ollie that he hadn't noticed. Tears were streaming down his face and he was doubled over with his hands over his ears.

"Roy-" Hal started, but he was cut off.

"Fuck you Ollie, fuck you! I'm not a slut, and if I'm a whore it's only because you made me one! I wasn't a slut, I had a _boyfriend_, just the one, and then you told your buddies in the Justice League what a bad kid I was and Batman made him dump me! And when I went out with Donna the same thing happened with Wonder Woman, so fuck you!"

"It's not my fault you made your own reputation!" Ollie yelled back. "I'm not gonna keep giving a rat's ass about you if this is what you do with peoples' concern! Go out and fuck around instead of facing your problems like a man!"

"I'm warning you Ollie, shut your fucking mouth or so help me-"

"Hey, you started this by being a filthy fucking whore-"

"Ollie, you really shouldn't call him-"

And then Hal was holding them both back with his ring, because Roy had let out a sound of blood curdling rage and charged at his ex-guardian. Hal pinned him to the wall.

"_Don't call me that you piece of shit_!"

"Roy, please calm down!" Hal yelled over him. "Don't let him get under your skin! Ollie, for god's sake, you don't mean this! I know you care about him so cut it out!"

"I used to," Ollie said in a voice as deadly calm as his tone had been explosively angry only seconds before. "I used to care about the kid an awful lot. Not anymore."

Hal dropped the green beam and stared at Ollie in shock. "You don't mean that."

Ollie only shrugged.

Roy slid down the wall and landed in a crumpled heap. He hugged his knees to his chest with his forehead pressed against them.

Ollie started walking towards the door. Feeling numb, Hal let him go. Just before he reached the exit he stopped and threw a withering glare at Roy that (thankfully) he didn't see. He did hear Ollie's parting shot though.

"You disgust me." Then he was gone.

Roy let out a choked sob as soon as the door shut. Hal froze for a moment, torn between comforting the distraught teenager and running after his friend to beat some sense into him. Though the thought of punching Ollie in the face was severely tempting, he went to Roy's side and pulled him into a protective embrace.

"I'm so sorry Roy. I know he didn't mean any of that. It's not true anyway. You know it's not, so don't let him get to you. Please don't…"

"I didn't want to be a-a whore," Roy whimpered. "I didn't have a choice! I-I couldn't get a job, at least n-nothing that would pay rent, and I-I didn't have any money or anywh-where to go, I didn't…it was the only th-thing I could do, I swear."

Hal rubbed soothing circles on Roy's back, wishing there was something he could say.

"I don't want him to hate me," Roy whispered, and Hal's heart ached for him.

* * *

><p>Hal spent the next couple of hours with Roy. It didn't take him that long to calm down, but when he did he was obviously embarrassed about his emotional reaction. Hal didn't begrudge him the tears; it had been one hell of a confrontation, but every attempt he made to convey that seemed to make the sullen teen shut down further.<p>

"I'm just, uh, I'll be right back." Roy wiped at his face with the heel of his hand, then dazedly walked into the bathroom. He kicked the door shut and a moment later the faucet turned on.

Hal got up and paced around the living room, trying to process what he'd just witnessed. He'd never seen Ollie lose his temper like that before. He'd seen the man angry plenty, and he'd seen him go on many a rant, sometimes irrational ones, but never anything like the way he'd just lashed out at Roy.

Hal knew Ollie cared about the kid. He'd listened to the guy unload about his fears and worries for his sidekick (which was part of the reason Hal had felt so guilty when he'd discovered the identity of the prostitute he was so enamored of). He knew Ollie was capable of losing himself in his emotions, and he knew the man had a temper, but...damn. He'd been trying to hurt Roy. There was no way to spin what he'd done as concern. It was just hurtful.

Hal was pulled from his brooding by Roy walking back into the room. His face was dripping with cool water and he looked a bit shaky, but otherwise much more composed. "So...uh...yeah. Sorry about that."

"No, I'm sorry. I thought if he found out he'd go after me. Roy, that was, that was vile. I've never seen him act like that before-"

Roy laughed at that, a sharp, humorless laugh. It took Hal by surprise. "Really? So he doesn't tell you much, huh?"

Hal regarded him in some confusion. "What do you mean?"

Roy sat down on the arm of the couch, a bitter smirk on his face. "He flips out on me like that all the time. I mean, don't get me wrong, I flip out right back and probably deserve half the shit he says, but still. That was pretty typical for us."

"Not really?" Hal couldn't even begin processing that.

Some of the bitter almost-amusement left Roy. "Well yeah. I mean we fight a lot. You heard him, that's why he left."

"But-but I've talked to him about you!" Hal exploded. He couldn't figure it out. "He worries about you like crazy! And what just happened, he was only trying to hurt you! I mean, there was nothing constructive in anything he said."

"I keep forgetting you don't get fear," Roy said, and Hal had an epiphany.

"He's scared?"

Roy nodded. "Yep. And I get it, I've been doing stupid shit that could get me killed. But I do it because he drives me crazy, and then he gets more scared and angry, and I get more depressed and angry at him, and then I do more stupid shit...we've got this cycle going...sorry. You probably don't want to be in the middle of this. I'll, uh, try to get healthy and then get back to you when I'm eighteen."

Hal shook his head. "If you think I'm taking off now and leaving you alone with this after screwing up your fresh start, you're as insane as he is."

Roy turned to face him, and it hurt Hal a little to see him look so guarded. "What are you saying Hal?"

"I'm saying I'm here for you." The rational part of Hal's brain told him to leave it at that, but he never was very good at listening to the rational part of his brain. "Because I care about you."

Roy smiled weakly. "I care about you too. But you know...Ollie can't keep his damn mouth shut. Everyone's going to find out, and the shit they're gonna say about it...I mean, everyone already says stuff about me, but you're the Green fucking Lantern. They respect you. I don't want you to lose that over me."

"Let me worry about that." Hal walked over to the couch and stood next to Roy. He took the boy's hand in his and gave it a squeeze. Roy squeezed back, then lowered his eyes.

"Hal, if you're serious about this...if you want me to trust you...you gotta promise to-to stay. Okay? I mean this is your chance to back out. It's a bad idea. I thought we might be able to get away with sneaking around before, but now that Ollie knows, this is a very, very _bad_ _idea_ and we both know that. So if you leave, I'll get it and I won't be upset...but if you start something with me and then take off I'll never forgive you."

"I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I'll tough it out with you Roy, I promise. You don't think I'm afraid, do you?"

Roy laughed, a genuine one this time, and Hal felt a warmth spread through him that he hadn't felt in some time. Not since Carol.

"No, I suppose not." Roy smiled at him, visibly relieved and breathtaking for his happiness, and Hal's misgivings about the situation parked themselves firmly on the backburner. He sat down next to Roy and kissed him, because he was just too damn irresistable not to, and Roy all but melted into his embrace. He stroked Roy's hair, telling the rational part of his brain to go fuck off, because everything about holding Roy and tasting him and seeing that gorgeous smile when he pulled away was perfect.

Once he really believed Roy felt better Hal decided to get going so he could go have the required fight with Ollie, something he'd rather get over as opposed to laterwith sooner. They made plans to see each other over the weekend and after a long, lingering kiss Hal took his leave.

When he'd decided to go talk to Roy about their tryst, the last thing Hal had expected was to leave the place in a committed relationship...kind of. They hadn't exactly called each other boyfriends or anything. He shook his head, and decided not to overthink it.

* * *

><p>Ollie wasn't home when Hal dropped by. He hadn't really expected him to be, since that would just be far too easy for the kind of day Hal was having. He hung around for a little while, but as time passed he figured Green Arrow was probably out adventuring, and likely blowing off steam by turning some unlucky mugger's face into hamburger.<p>

Hal changed into Lantern garb and flew through the city, keeping an eye out for the occasional crime to stop, but mostly looking for his friend. After an hour or so he did manage to find Green Arrow wailing on some minor felon. Hal dropped down in Ollie's line of sight and waited for him to finish up.

Scowling, Ollie hit the guy one last time, dropping him, and then bent over to zip cuff the unconscious thug. "I'm trying to patrol here."

"I think the scum of Star City would appreciate it if you dealt with your issues before taking it out on them."

"I think the scum of Star City deserve what's coming to them, and if the lot of us resolved our issues we probably wouldn't be running across rooftops in spandex looking for crime to fight to begin with," Ollie returned.

Hal shrugged. "Can't argue with that, but if you're this upset then you might make it easier for a group of them to get in a lucky shot. Come on GA, you shouldn't be doing this when you're this level of pissed off. If you want to punch someone it should be me. I deserve it after what I did."

Ollie shook his head. He started walking towards the end of the alley, and Hal silently trudged after him.

After a long moment that stretched uncomfortably between them, Ollie spoke. "I'm not mad at you Hal."

"You really should be. Hell, I'm not exactly thrilled with myself."

"Exactly. You've got a functioning moral compass. But the kid, the kid gets off on pushing at people and screwing up. Believe me, whatever you think's going on with him isn't. This is to get back at me for leaving, I know it."

"Uh Ollie...I don't know how to break this to you...but Roy didn't know who I was when we met. He had no idea I was friends with you."

He could see Ollie's eyes widening in surprise behind his mask. They'd just about made it to the main street, but Ollie ducked down another shadowy nook and Hal followed after him. "Just how long has this been going on then?"

"Not long," Hal assured him. "We've only seen each other twice. I was going over to talk to him about...about the other time and...well, you can probably figure out what happened from there."

Ollie considered that. "So it's not about me?"

"I seriously hope not."

"You're sure he had no idea who you were?" Ollie pressed. Rolling his eyes, Hal nodded.

"There was no way he could have known."

Ollie frowned. "Well how did you two meet anyway?"

Hal closed his eyes in a wince. He should have noticed the conversation was heading there and deflected. "I'd rather not say."

"I take it I'd rather not know then?" Ollie asked, tone taking on a level of cynical amusement. "Sheesh, typical Roy. You know it's interesting timing though. I mean, less than a month ago you were so far in the closet you never would have gone for his advances, and now all of a sudden..." The metaphorical lightbulb went off in Ollie's mind. "You didn't...take my advice, did you Hal?"

'Lie. Lie to him. It's the only way out of this right now-' Except that Hal never was very convincing when he lied to his friends (at least not about anything important).

"No, of course not-"

"Oh fucking hell. Fucking hell! _He was selling himself_?" Ollie shrieked.

Hal saw a few lights turn on in the windows above them and realized that this was not the place for this conversation. He enveloped them both in a green beam and flew for a private looking rooftop. The rushing air of the flight seemed to do Ollie some good, because he wasn't screaming anymore by the time they touched down. His skin had a worrying sour milk kind of pallor to it though.

"Ollie, I'm so sorry."

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Ollie asked. "We're supposed to be friends. You were really going to sit on that?"

"I...I wasn't sure," Hal said, and it was almost true. He'd thought about telling Ollie and come close a few times. "I wanted to talk to Roy about it before I talked to you, and he didn't want to tell you. It's a sensitive subject."

Ollie nodded, looking numb. "He wouldn't have sunk to that unless he was really desperate. I let him down worse than I thought."

This was the Ollie Hal was used to seeing. The one who seemed to genuinely care about his teenage charge. It was difficult to reconcile with how Ollie had behaved earlier in the day, and Hal only realized how angry he still about that when he heard his own biting comment escape him. "Brings a new light to what you screamed at him today, doesn't it?"

That snapped Ollie out of his brooding thoughts. He turned his head towards Hal, a defensive, angry look on his face. "Oh get off the fucking high horse Lantern. Fucking a messed up teenager isn't the same as trying to parent one."

Hal gritted his teeth and forced himself to take a deep breath before he responded to the barb. "I wasn't taking advantage of him this time."

"He's sixteen years old Hal, and you're what, twenty six?"

"Twenty five," Hal returned. He was two years younger than Ollie, and just about the same age as anyone else in the League with a teenage sidekick. It made him wonder why they all thought it was a good idea to mentor damaged kids when they were still rather young and not exactly stable themselves.

"Twenty five, twenty six. Doesn't really matter. If he's really not manipulating you to get at me, then you're taking advantage of him."

"So those are really the only options you see?" Hal snapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you in love with him or something?" Ollie asked in a mocking tone.

"You know what, I'm done with this." Hal took off into the air and left Ollie on the roof. It wasn't until he was halfway back to Coast City that he realized he couldn't answer Ollie's question, even just for himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Hal was blatantly going through the motions at work, to the annoyance or amusement of his coworkers, depending on temperament. They all assumed the skirt chaser was hung up on some new girl. Well, they were in the right ballpark.

He couldn't stop thinking about Roy. He hadn't slept much the previous night, and that was a novel (and much loathed) sensation; one of the perks of being all-but-fearless was that you tended to have satisfied, restful sleep. Hal wasn't used to being a walking zombie, and if it wasn't for Tom having the sense to stick a large coffee in his hand and refill it throughout the day, he probably would have crashed something.

First he'd been concerned about the kid, but as dawn inched nearer and nearer his thoughts had turned to himself. Just what in the hell did he think he was doing, getting involved (illegally) with an emotionally damaged teenager coming off a drug addiction? When Hal was actually near his boy, it was hard to remember all those nasty consequences, but when he was alone (trying to sleep, or even at work apparently) his mind fixated on them.

Hal was seriously looking at losing some important friendships over this. Ollie clearly wasn't a fan of the relationship, and if the asshole decided to press charges…even though the man had been negligent, he was still Roy's guardian. He could have Hal arrested. Hell, if he tried then the rest of the League would find out why and Hal figured he'd be lucky if he was _only_ imprisoned. He was sleeping with a _sidekick_. He couldn't see his friends overlooking that.

He couldn't even process what he'd do if Barry turned on him (Hal really wished he could remember if Roy was older than Barry's soon-to-be-nephew or not).

Hal trudged up the stairs to his place, ready to drop off to sleep before even considering costumed activity for the night. He kicked off his boots, tossed his jacket on an armchair, and flopped onto his couch, not even bothering to drag himself to his bedroom.

He got in a good fifteen minutes before he was jerked awake by a succession of knocks on his door administered at superspeed. "Go 'way!" he yelled.

Silence, blessed silence, reigned for about five minutes. Then his door was flung open and Barry was standing in front of him with a coffee. He was wearing the Flash costume, but he'd taken the cowl down and his spiky blond hair was sticking out at odd angles. There was laughter shining in his clear blue eyes. "Busy day Jordan?"

"Grnn…" Hal grunted. He held out his hand for the coffee, pretty sure he would have materialized a giant hand to fling his friend from the room if he hadn't brought the caffeine with him.

"Sit up first or you'll just spill it everywhere. Geeze, what happened to you? Epic battle with Sinestro or something?"

Hal sat up and was awarded his coffee. "No, just couldn' sleep last night. You're awfully chipper though."

"Important relationship breakthrough with Iris. Is it okay if I babble, or should I save it for when you're…?"

"Conscious? Maybe." Hal took a slow sip of coffee. "Nah, go ahead."

He indulged Barry and half-listened to the guy's story about outing himself as a superhero to his fiancée (who'd figured it out forever ago and was waiting to be told). Hal considered teasing the guy about his original plan to marry Iris without telling her, but he wasn't awake enough to play it off in a way that wouldn't piss Barry off.

He did kind of wonder if Barry had told Iris he'd given her nephew a costume, minimal training, and told him to go off and have adventures though.

"So, uh…heard from Ollie lately?" Hal asked, once Barry finally rambled into silence.

"Not really," Barry answered, looking surprised at the question. Good. Ollie hadn't told him then. "We don't really hang out without you." Oh. So Ollie hadn't told him _yet_. "Is something up?"

"Kind of."

"Is it about his sidekick? I heard the kid was a junkie. I can't imagine Ollie's dealing with that very well."

Hal couldn't tell if he meant 'Ollie's having a hard time handling it' or 'Ollie's not taking care of it the way he should'. Barry sometimes got a bit high and mighty when the sidekick talk started. Of course, he was also the only hero other than Wonder Woman who wasn't acting as sole guardian of their junior partner, and didn't seem to notice how that changed the relationship dynamic. Hal got the feeling Ollie and Barry would be much closer if they never discussed sidekick mentoring; Barry had a tendency to get judgmental and Ollie was stubbornly defensive.

"Roy's off the drugs," Hal said. "But yeah, Ollie's been in agony over it."

"As well he should be. That's a scary thought. I don't know what I'd do if Wally ever…but he won't. He's not that kind of kid."

Hal snapped his head up and narrowed his eyes. "What kind of kid?"

Barry shrugged. "A trouble maker. Wally's had nothing good to say about Speedy. He's aggressive, he dropped out of school, he's promiscuous, he swears worse than his mentor, and he talks down to the other Titans. And now with this drug business…I don't know. Feels like he belongs on the other side."

"Roy's a good kid," Hal said through gritted teeth.

Barry snorted. "That's not what I've heard. Even Ollie says the kid's a lost cause half the time."

"He's had a hard life Barry. Not everyone comes from the two parent suburban American dream you know."

Barry eyed him in some confusion. "Did I hit some kind of nerve? I'm sorry. You know I'm not trying to offend you, right?"

"I know. I'm just…tired." And for the first time he could remember, he kind of wanted to punch his best friend.

"I noticed. Guess I'd better leave you to the shut eye."

"Thanks."

"See you later Hal."

He was gone before Hal's head dropped back onto the couch cushion.

* * *

><p>Roy wearily trudged down the hall to his apartment, greatly looking forward to a shower and bed. He was having a god-awful day, and sleep was the only oblivion he allowed himself anymore.<p>

Jupiter had insisted on a brutal training program, which in a way was good. The Titans weren't as polished as they needed to be, which was why they'd almost broken up. But Roy got the feeling that the reorganization was hitting him harder than any of his super powered peers.

He really missed Dick. Back when Robin had been in charge, everyone remembered that certain members of the team were only human and had limits without said members having to humiliate themselves by announcing their weakness.

The light on the answering machine was blinking. Roy's first instinct was to ignore it in favor of the shower. But it might be Hal…a small smile formed on his lips at the thought of his sort-of boyfriend (and the only good thing in his life at the moment). Roy hit the button.

None of the twelve messages were Hal. Eleven of them were Ollie berating him, growing more and more hysterical the further in they went. Roy started fast forwarding over the tape until he heard Dick's voice. He backtracked and played the full message.

"Hey dude, haven't heard from you in awhile. Just wanted to see how you're doing, y'know, since you were having a tough time. If you need to talk, I'm here. You're perfectly welcome to crash at my place again if you want. I'm busy with finals, but I can always make time. Anyway, call me back. Bye."

That was an idea. Roy had visited Dick a few times since he'd started college, and every visit had been wonderful. He'd have to camp out on Dick's floor, since the apartment was a small one bedroom on the Hudson U campus, but chilling with his friend sounded really good. He'd probably run it by Hal first though, since Dick was his ex.

Roy was still musing over Dick's message when the last one played. It was from Ollie, and since Roy was distracted he didn't reflexively skip it like the others.

"I don't know why you're not answering your phone you little prick. You think it's funny, making me worry like this? I bet you do, you selfish bastard!"

"Yeah, or maybe I was with the Titans," Roy informed his empty apartment.

"Or maybe you're just shooting up again!" the message continued, as though in response. "How you paying for it this time smart ass? Gonna go out and suck some more co-" The tape cut off with a loud beep.

Roy's insides lurched. He froze in shock, but it only lasted a moment, then he dove for the machine and played the last message back.

Ollie knew. How the fuck had he found out? And worse, who else had he told? Within twenty four hours of Ollie and Hal barging in on him shooting up, the entire Justice League and all their sidekicks had known Roy was a junkie. Who was he trashing Roy to this time?

Dick must have known. That was why he had called Roy, to check up on him. He probably thought he needed to talk Roy out of prostitution, as though that hadn't been a choice he'd made for himself as soon as it was viable.

Roy played the message back a third time, then sunk to the floor and hugged his knees. He was starting to lose it, and his breathing was getting faster and faster the more he thought about it.

Because there was only one way Ollie could have found out, really. One of Roy's former customers would have had to tell him. And Ollie only knew one of Roy's former customers.

Roy took a shuddering breath, willing his heart to stop hammering so hard he could feel it in his temple. He picked up the phone and called Hal. He didn't get an answer.

"H-hey Hal, um, it's-it's Roy. Me, uh yeah. I really gotta t-talk to you. Could you, um, call me back? Please? Bye."

His hands were shaking when he hung up. He hadn't felt this bad since those god awful nights at Dinah's. Roy tried to take a deep breath, but he couldn't. His heart was going a mile a minute, and he couldn't take a steady breath, couldn't get air in his lungs.

Everyone knew. They knew he was a junkie, and they knew what he'd done to fuel his habit. He tried to say the hooking was for food and rent, and it had been, but he'd put heroin before food, and he'd put it before utilities too. The morning after his night with Hal, he'd gone to his dealer and then spent the rest of the day in wonderful, blissful oblivion.

What was the point of getting clean? He was never going to live this down. No one would ever let him forget how fucked up he was. They all wanted him to fail so they could be right. He was a lost cause, the bad seed of the Teen Titans that the other mentors all wanted kept the hell away from their own sidekicks. He was the fuck up.

Even Hal must have thought so…

What was the god damn point?

* * *

><p>Hal's couch wasn't the most comfortable place he'd ever dropped off for a nap, but for whatever reason it turned out to be the most restful. Maybe he'd just pushed himself to the limits as far as sleep deprivation and worry went, and his body had called shenanigans on him.<p>

At any rate, the much needed nap was fantastic, and he woke up feeling more like his usual confident self.

So maybe the situation wasn't ideal, but really there was a lot of good there too. He had a new lover he was crazy about. And Roy was coming over tomorrow. Hal was determined to do something to make the weekend special. God knows Roy needed a treat, not to mention a chance to relax.

Hal stretched his arms over his head and glanced at his clock. It was already a little past midnight. He debated engaging in superheroics, but ultimately decided to just take the night off in favor of channel surfing and unwinding. It'd be nicer if he had a cute redhead curled up with him, but that would have to wait for the next night.

Then he noticed that the light on his answering machine was blinking.

He knew something was wrong as soon as he heard Roy's voice. It was tight with badly concealed pain (as though Hal wouldn't notice), and at no point in the message did his boy exhibit any of his usual warm playfulness. Despite the request for Hal to call him back, Hal took to the air, figuring Roy would prefer seeing him in person.

Unfortunately, when he got to Roy's apartment it was empty. Hal tore through the boy's meager possessions, looking for anything that would clue him in as to where Roy had gone. But Hal wasn't much of a detective, and he couldn't find anything useful. Then he noticed Roy's answering machine.

It was probably some kind of violation to play that tape. But Roy was out there hurting somewhere, and he was probably alone.

Hal rewound the tape and hit play without any further hesitation.

What he heard made his heart ache. Though now that he knew to listen for it, he could hear the fear behind Ollie's hateful words. He listened to message after message, sure that eventually there would be one from some friend, calling Roy back and inviting him over. Maybe he wasn't popular with Kid Flash, but there were other kids in the Teen Titans. At least one of them had to have Speedy's back.

Better yet, maybe Ollie would come to his senses and invite Roy over for a heart to heart.

He heard the message from Robin, and breathed a sigh of relief. Roy must be on his way to Hudson University then.

And then the last message played. Hal's heart dropped to his knees.

"Fuck."

He tore out of the building and back into the air. Now he _needed_ to find Roy.

* * *

><p>As one am drew nearer and nearer Hal found himself in an unfamiliar situation: he was scared. He had no idea where Roy was or what he might be thinking, but all the scenarios playing through his head were horrific. No wonder Ollie had snapped. He couldn't imagine feeling this way long term.<p>

Eventually he went back to Roy's place and found Robin's number. He gave the kid a call (he sounded groggy, and explained that he'd fallen asleep on his Orgo book). Of course he hadn't heard from Roy.

He spent another hour looking blindly, but clearly that wasn't working. Admitting defeat, Hal flew to Ollie's. Maybe Roy had gone in search of a confrontation.

Hal squeezed his eyes shut and prayed to any divinity deigning to listen that Roy was okay.

Ollie was patching up a cut on his arm when Hal walked in. He scoffed, then turned back to his injury. "What brings you by?"

"Has Roy been over tonight?"

"You'd know better than me, what with you being a pedo and all."

"Really Oliver, that wasn't called for. I think Roy's in trouble, now have you seen him?" Hal asked, taking great efforts to keep his voice even.

Ollie finally looked at him, the beginnings of concern on his face. "Trouble? What kind of trouble? What's wrong?"

He really had to ask that after all the verbal abuse he'd left on the answering machine? Resisting the temptation to chew him out, Hal explained about the message Roy had left him, and that he hadn't heard from him since. "And I've been looking for him all night, and I can't find him anywhere!"

"Yeah, welcome to my world. Shit. Shit! The answering machine cut off on my last message. How much did it get anyway?"

"It got you asking if he was sucking cock for heroin. For fuck's sake Ollie, why would you say that?"

"Why do you think? Because I'm scared that it's true!" Ollie roared back.

"Well it's going to be if you keep pushing him like this!"

"Oh go fuck yourself! You don't even know what you're talking about!"

"I don't know why I thought you'd actually get your head out of your ass and be helpful. Maybe if you spent a little less time thinking about how Roy's stressing _you_ out and a little more time thinking about him, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Hal probably deserved the punch to the face. The boot in his gut while he was down as a bit excessive though.

"I am thinking of Roy, and that's the only reason you're not in jail or worse for getting your jollies off with a freaking teenager! Don't you _dare_ judge me Jordan. You have no idea what this kid has put me through."

"I'm starting to get an idea," Hal choked out. "Can we skip beating the piss out of each other and just find him?"

"Yeah, let's go. I've got a few ideas you probably haven't tried yet."

They spent hours searching for Roy, occasionally heading back to his apartment to see if he'd stumbled home, but no luck. Hal was getting more and more frantic the later it got, while Ollie in turn seemed to be shutting down.

"I think we'd better call it quits Lantern. The kid'll be found when he wants to be found."

"How can you say that? What if he starts shooting up again?"

Ollie shrugged. "Nothing we can do about it. And if that's what he wanted to do, he's been alone long enough to do it by now. I'm heading in."

Hal swore, then pounded a nearby garbage can with a giant green fist. Ollie shook his head. "Gonna give me a lift or should I start walking?"

"Start walking. I'm going to find Roy."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

* * *

><p>Roy spent awhile wandering the streets. The walk did a lot to cool his head, and he managed to get his emotions under control. The hysterical waves of panic left, replaced by an equally unpleasant numbness.<p>

He really wanted to talk to someone, but he didn't think he had anyone to turn to. Ollie clearly wasn't an option, and probably never would be again. Dinah was pretty much the perfect sympathetic ear, and she'd said Roy could go to her for anything, but he didn't want to pull her into this mess. For whatever reason, she'd fallen in love with Ollie and he didn't want to screw that up for her (besides, Ollie would probably wreck that all on his own sooner or later). He could call Dick, but the kid had plenty of his own problems, and in addition it just wouldn't be sensitive. They still had chemistry (after all, it hadn't been Dick's idea for them to break up either), so it would just be rude to talk to the guy about Hal.

Eventually Roy sat down in a condemned building he used to hang with his old friends at. The non-superhero kids who only knew Roy as a high school drop-out wannabe musician. He hadn't seen any of them in weeks, not since he'd announced he was getting clean. Roy half expected to find one of the guys passed out on the dusty floorboards when he walked in, but he was alone.

He sat down amidst their garbage, leaned back against the wall, and closed his eyes. The place stank from their crushed beer cans and old bags of fast food. Despite the fact that his clique had been drawn together by their shared pain, Roy did have some good memories to go with those guys, and this place.

Sad, really. The only place he'd actually fit in and felt comfortable in his own skin was a crappy building that was going to be torn down, surrounded by druggie failures. They were just like him.

Roy opened his eyes again and took a deep breath, but the numbness wouldn't leave him. There was a syringe by his sneaker. He picked it up and eyed it as though he'd never seen anything like it before, even though he was well practiced with intravenous drugs by this point.

Maybe he'd made a mistake, trying to get clean and start over. Ollie didn't want to give him a fresh start. Anytime they fought about anything, no matter how small it was, the first thing Ollie did was throw the drugs in his face. The Titans all knew, and he heard them talking shit about him (well not Donna, but that was only because she was a saint). It would be easier to just sink back into his habit, to not try anymore and just stay in a state of drug induced euphoria until he finally died from it.

He was still fiddling with the syringe when a boxing glove made of green light crashed through the boarded up front window. Roy snapped his head up and watched as Hal flew into the room. He'd only seen Hal in costume a couple times, which was not nearly often enough to get used to the sight. The costume was so sleek, hugging his body like a second skin. He looked like raw power, yet still somehow commanding and refined. He was sexy as hell, is what he was.

Hal's expression changed from superheroic impassivity to something like fear when his eyes locked on Roy's hand. Quickly, he tossed the syringe across the room. Hal landed in front of him and shook Roy's shoulders violently. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled.

"Let go of me!" Roy snapped back, trying to shrug out of Hal's grasp. "It's not what it looks like! The needle's old. Look at the place Hal, do you see anything fresh? There isn't anything for me to shoot up even if I wanted to." Forget the part that he did want to.

Hal let out a relieved breath, and the hands on Roy's shoulders unclenched, turning into a gentle touch instead. "Sorry, sorry. I wasn't thinking. I got-"

"Scared?" Roy had been teasing, but he was surprised to see Hal consider his words.

"I guess that's what that was."

"How did you even know to look for me here?" Roy asked.

"It wasn't the first place I checked, but I was getting desperate. And…this is where Ollie and I found you before. I thought it might have some meaning to you, albeit not in a good way. You, er, didn't sound happy when you left me that message."

"No, I was kinda freaking out," Roy admitted. He broke eye contact with Hal (well, if you could call it eye contact considering he was wearing the Lantern Mask and Roy couldn't actually see his eyes), turning his head to the side and worrying his lip with his teeth. Hal pulled him into a protective embrace.

"I could hear it in your voice. I was worried you would do something desperate. Are you okay now?"

"N-not really. Hal…did you tell Ollie about…about what I did when he was gone?" He hated the way his voice sounded. This was _not_ how he wanted Hal to see him. The guy already had enough reasons to think he was weak.

"I'm so sorry Roy. I didn't mean to. He figured it out when he asked how we met and I wouldn't tell him."

Roy looked back at Hal in some surprise. "He guessed prostitute from that?"

"It wasn't quite as direct as that, but I am sorry, and I didn't mean to tell him."

"You do realize that now he has more fuel to hurl at me? And he really didn't need anything else," Roy said, some anger creeping into his tone.

Hal winced. "I know. If it helps, he's mad at me too."

"Why would that help?"

Hal smirked. "Good point. Well anyway, I've been talking to Ollie and he's worried about you too. I know he has a shit way of expressing it, but he does want you to be okay."

Roy nodded. "I know. I've always known that, it's just…Hal, if everyone in tights knows that I sucked cock for heroin, I'm not coming back from that. I can't…" Roy's voice broke off. Hal hugged him closer, and he buried his face in Hal's chest. The material from his costume felt odd, but it was cool and soft against his flushed face and the gloved hand stroking through his hair was soothing. It didn't take long for him to start to calm down.

"I talked to Ollie. I don't think he's going to tell anyone, he's just scared."

"Everyone found out I was a junkie quickly enough."

Hal sighed. "I'll talk to him again. Roy, I'll help you with this. You're not alone, okay?"

Roy leaned back to look at Hal, wearing an incredulous expression. "You still wanna be around?"

Hal brushed his thumb down Roy's cheek. "Yeah. Now can I take you home yet?"

Smirking, Roy allowed himself to be lifted into Hal's arms like some news reporter love interest, and enjoyed the flight to Coast City.


	5. Chapter 5

****_A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Have some smut to make up for it! Don't forget to review :)  
><em>

**Chapter Five**

Hal flew Roy to an odd looking house right on the edge of Coast City-literally; the Pacific Ocean served as Hal's backyard. It was a squat concrete thing, but there was a quirky kind of charm to the little building, enhanced by the skeletons of various kinds of vehicles littering the front yard.

If the man had any near neighbors, they'd probably have _loved_ that.

Hal opened his bedroom window with a burst of green light shaped like a hand, and then they swooped inside. Roy only saw enough of the room to discern that his new boyfriend was a slob before he was dropped onto a gigantic, uncannily comfortable bed. The mattress was amazing; Roy had never felt anything like it. Soft, but incredibly supportive at the same time.

"A guy could do some naughty things on a bed like this," Roy said suggestively. He leered at Hal from the rumpled bedding and pillows he was leaning against.

Hal smirked, and with a burst of green light he was sans mask and wearing ripped jeans and a heavy button down shirt. It was a different kind of fuckable from the Lantern get up, but definitely still fuckable.

"You know, I was thinking along similar lines when I 'accidentally' ordered too much memory foam at work." He raised his ring hand, and suddenly Roy was being undressed by flexible globs of shapeless green light.

Roy threw his head back and laughed. "If you wanted me naked all you had to do was ask. I could have put on a show."

"This is just as fun." Hal flicked his wrist, and the ring constructs abandoned their half-finished task in favor of fondling him. Roy snapped his eyes shut, breath hitching as one of them squeezed him through his boxers.

"Roy Harper, you are sexy as hell," Hal informed him.

Roy arched off the bed and whimpered in response to the wandering globs of green. One of them was tweaking his nipples, another caressing the soft skin under his belly, another running feather-light up and down his thigh, but the one pumping his cock was his favorite. That one had his toes curling.

"Yeah, I think I could get off just watching this."

"Guh…_god_ Hal…this is-this is…urgh…" Now that was frustrating. Roy was trying to ask Hal to fuck him, but he kept getting cut off by his own moans.

"Yeah, a guy could really get to like this," Hal continued, laughter in his voice.

Roy continued thrashing helplessly on the bed, but managed to get all the way out of his pants and underpants. "Hal…c'mon…want _you_."

The constructs wavered for a moment, almost flickering out. Roy smirked, pleased with himself for throwing Green Lantern's concentration.

Then suddenly he was on his stomach, arms stretched above his head and held there by green shackles attached to green chains that wrapped around the headboard.

"Oooh…" Roy's cock twitched eagerly.

Then a thought penetrated his lust-blown brain. "You've done this before, huh?"

He could hear Hal's arrogant smirk in his voice. "A few times, yeah. How'd you tell?"

Roy tugged his wrist and felt the chains give a little. "Just the right amount of tension, not too much, and they fit well. I appreciate a guy who can tie you down without cutting into your wrists or killing your arms and your back. Am I gonna need a safe word?"

"If you want to go in that direction."

More ring constructs opened a drawer in Hal's dresser and carried over a red silk scarf, then tied it securely over Roy's eyes.

This day had gotten so much better than how it started. "Oh fuck yes."

Roy heard something that sounded an awful lot like the rustle of clothes being removed. Aware that Hal liked his ass, which was currently raised as he leaned on his knees in front of the headboard, Roy wriggled his hips a bit, hoping to entice his lover to get on the damn bed and use his hands as much as that wonderful, wonderful ring.

And then Roy yelped when his ass was smacked, followed by a loud moan when it was squeezed, _hard_. It had to be another ring construct. The touch was firm and flexible but lacking the warmth of Hal's strong, broad hands.

"So what's our safe word?" Hal asked, tone perfectly conversational and too far away for Roy's taste.

"Oliver?" Roy suggested.

"…well that would certainly kill the mood. Alright, safe word chosen, now don't say it again unless you mean it."

Roy laughed. "We could do fish scale man panties if you'd rather." He got another slap for that.

"That's more than one word, and besides which, the first one is perfectly functional."

"What about Black Canary? Toy Wonder? League?" Each new suggestion got him another smack.

"How did I know _you'd_ have a kink for discipline?"

"Because I'm such a bastard. C'mon Hal, you're not even using your real hands. You can't be tired already. I know you're older than me and all but…_fuck_!" All the previous smacks had stimulated him to the point where that last one, the hardest one of the group, sent jolts of glorious pleasure/pain shooting up Roy's spine and all through his body.

But Hal must have misread the way he tensed, because the shackles disappeared and Roy fell forward, chin crashing against the headboard. He rolled onto his side, clutching at his face. "Kay, _ow_! And not in the fun way. Way to drop me on my face."

"Sorry. Roy, I'm really sorry. Are you okay?"

Roy pulled the scarf off of his eyes and looked up into Hal's handsome face, which was currently set in concern. "With the number of times I've been punched in the jaw? Don't worry, I can take a headboard."

Hal was still wearing the work shirt, but it was unbuttoned, showing off his gloriously toned torso, and he'd stripped down to his boxers. He pulled Roy into his arms and kissed the bruise blooming on his chin. "I'm really sorry I dropped you. I'm not normally this jumpy during-"

Roy cut him off with a demanding kiss. He was still hard as hell, and he did not want to talk over any of those issues just yet. He wanted to actually have the sex Hal was feeling guilty over first.

Roy straddled Hal's lap and ground down on the man's impressive erection. He swallowed Hal's moans, kissing him so deeply and thoroughly that he could barely breathe, and any time their lips parted he heard Hal gasp for breath.

Hal pulled Roy's face from his, fingers curled in what little remained of Roy's hair, eyes hard and shining artificially green. "Let's try something different," Hal whispered.

Roy was pretty sure everything was different at this stage in the relationship, but he did like the sound of that. Still… "I'd be okay with you putting the handcuffs back on."

Hal grinned, and Roy could have come just from how incredibly sexy he looked. He started kissing along Hal's neck to distract himself from the look in his eyes.

"Mm…no, I think I'm done with those tonight. I…mm…I want you to try…fucking me this time."

Roy stopped, then slowly leaned back to get another look at his boyfriend. "Seriously?"

Hal nodded. "You liked it well enough. And I've…I want to try it. And I want it to be you the first time."

Well, definitely no handcuffs then. Those weren't the type of things you used for a guy's first time bottoming (and especially not when he said it to you like _that_, like he trusted you so much even though you'd never done anything to deserve it).

Roy couldn't find words for what that undeserved trust meant to him, so he tried to put all that inexpressible emotion into a kiss. Hal caressed the sides of Roy's face with his thumbs, then gently guided their faces apart. "I've got lube under the pillow."

"Under the…huh. Just what kind of man have I gotten into bed with?" Roy asked. He sat up onto his knees, then crawled over to the pillows and started groping around for the stuff.

"The kind of man who's been fingering himself at night for over a week imagining it was you, now where the hell do you keep yours?"

Roy smirked. "The nightstand. Just like a good little pervert." He retrieved the tube and coated his fingers, a little giddy and thus overenthusiastic about what he was doing. He crawled back to Hal, kissed him again, and watched eagerly as Hal slipped his thumbs into the waistband of his boxers and smoothly pulled them off.

Roy was momentarily sad he wasn't going to have that sizable cock back up his own ass, but there was always the morning. When Hal turned over and presented his glorious backside, Roy perked right back up.

As soon as it was okay for him to talk about this, he was so going to have bragging rights for life for getting to pop Green fucking Lantern's gay cherry, top and bottom.

"This isn't gonna feel that great at first," Roy cautioned.

"Don't worry Roy, you won't hurt me."

Roy rubbed his dry hand along Hal's hip in a loving caress, then slowly inserted the first finger. Hal only tensed a little. His breathing went perfectly even, like he was meditating around the discomfort of the intrusive finger. Come to think of it, that was probably an effective strategy (except that by this point Roy was enough of a slut not to feel much discomfort at any stage of anal penetration. His fourteen year old self could have used that technique though).

He waited until he felt Hal start to relax again, slowly withdrew the finger, then slid it back in a bit more quickly. Hal gasped, and let out a faint groan. Oh yeah, this guy was gonna like getting fucked.

"Roy…c'mon…give me more…"

Roy obliged with a second finger, but he felt Hal tense again. "You okay?"

"Burns a little. S'okay, still feels good."

Roy shook his head. He might have liked getting fingered _now_, when he'd already done it a bunch of times, but the first time hadn't been pleasant for Roy at all. This must have been Hal's version of getting smacked on the ass or something. He continued his enthusiastic appreciation for three fingers, at which point Roy deemed him sufficiently stretched for some real fun.

"Condoms?" Roy rasped out.

"I just got a physical for work. I'm clean. You still are too, right?"

"Yeah." Again, way more trust than Roy deserved.

"Just do it Roy."

"You're sure?"

Hal leaned back and ground that impossibly perfect ass against him. Roy whimpered and tried not to come on the spot. "I'm positive. Fuck me Harper."

He was going to have to tell Hal later (once he could wrest more than savage sounding grunts from his throat) that he was a pushier bottom than Dick Grayson, which had to be some kind of world record.

It took all of Roy's willpower not to go too fast. He had to keep reminding himself that this was Hal's first time doing this, that he'd never had anything larger than a finger up his ass before, and that even though he seemed to like a little pain, getting rammed by an incredibly horny teenager right off the bat wasn't the way to start his first time.

But _fuck_ he was so damn tight, and hot, and his body hugged Roy's weeping erection like a glove. Taking him slowly was unbearably difficult, and the sadistic bastard didn't even seem to appreciate how much self-control it was taking for Roy to hold back. He kept pushing back, grinding himself against Roy's cock whenever he tried to slow his pace.

Roy bit his lip and swore. "I'm, rrngh, I'mfuckingonnapulloutifyoukeep doingthat!" he yelled, determined to get it all out while he was still somewhat rational.

"For fuck's sake kid, I asked you to fuck me, now will you get on with it?"

Yeah, Hal was way worse than Dick.

Roy grabbed Hal's hips and thrust forward, burying himself. It had been so long since he'd gotten to top that he'd almost forgotten how good it felt. "Oh god Hal, you're amazing."

"Yes I absolutely fucking am…hold on a minute though."

Roy frowned. "I knew…I knew I should've gone slow…given you time to…to adjust."

"It just hurts a…a little. I've felt worse. Just one sec Roy. Just one more sec…heh…"

Roy reached around and wrapped his hand around Hal's cock. Hal responded eagerly before he even moved. "This should help," Roy whispered in a shaky voice, and as he worked Hal's erection he slowly started to move his own hips in time with the strong strokes of his hand.

The added stimulation did help, because Hal positively came undone under him. Soon he was moving his body eagerly between Roy's hand and his thrusting hips, and Roy's movements became more powerful and quicker as he unthinkingly slammed into that perfectly honed body.

"Roy…so good, so…fuck…damn, damn you're…" He never got the chance to hear exactly what he was, because Hal came all over his hand (and once he was coherent again Roy would be supremely grateful that he'd outlasted his slightly intimidating and experienced older boyfriend).

Roy gasped out Hal's name when he came barely a minute later. His body gave out on him, and he collapsed against Hal's back, sweaty and trembling.

Hal reached behind him and grabbed Roy's wrists, then repositioned his arms into an embrace. Smiling, Roy extracted his right arm so he could brush the damp hair from Hal's nape and leave a tender kiss there.

"That was fucking awesome," Hal moaned.

Roy pulled out of him, both men gasping at the sensation, and Hal repositioned himself by the headboard. Roy curled up in his arms, but shifted back slightly so Hal could wipe them off with one of his sheets. Then Roy nuzzled against him, sated and pliant in his boyfriend's arms.

Hal ran his fingers along Roy's hairline, then traced his fingertips down the side of his face, and caressed his jaw. Roy sleepily leaned into the touch. "You're so beautiful Roy…I just love looking at you."

He didn't really have much else to offer Hal, so it was nice to hear that his looks were appreciated. If they ever went, he wasn't sure how he could hold onto such a fantastic catch.

"Could you do me a favor though beautiful?" Hal asked.

"What is it?"

"Would you mind…growing your hair back out?"

Roy opened his eyes, watching Hal with some amusement. He looked a little embarrassed about his request, for some reason. "How long do you want it?"

"Not very," Hal insisted. "But longer than this. Long enough for me to really run my fingers through it. Like when we first met."

Roy's stomach lurched, and not for the first time he wished he'd met this amazing man under _any_ other circumstances than the truth. Hopefully none of that showed on his face though, because they were having a moment dammit.

"Sure Hal. I can grow it back out."

"Thanks beautiful. Now let's get some sleep. You look wiped, and I wanna do some more of that in the morning."

That sealed it. Best boyfriend ever.

* * *

><p>All of Hal's plans for spending a quiet weekend spoiling his boy evaporated when he was awoken by an insistent summons from his power battery. He groaned and threw a pillow in its general direction, but of course the telepathic instructions to come to the aid of a human-like civilization in his sector didn't stop.<p>

Hal reluctantly disentangled himself from Roy's clinging hug and got out of bed. "Hrn…?" Roy reached out an arm and groped after him, but missed by inches.

"Sorry beautiful," Hal murmured. "I've gotta go work."

"Thought you…" Roy let out a loud yawn, then leaned up on his elbows. "Thought you said you had the weekend off."

"Sure, from Ferris. Not the other guys though." Hal aimed his power ring at his body and was enveloped in the Green Lantern uniform. "I'll try to be quick, but it's a space mission. Sometimes those take a few days."

"Should I go?" Roy asked in a small voice that Hal probably wouldn't have heard him use if the boy were fully awake. At the moment though, he looked frighteningly vulnerable.

Hal sat on the bed and leaned over so he could brush his fingers down Roy's face. "Of course not. This is your weekend kid. Just raid my fridge, order something on Pay Per View, and keep my bed warm while you wait for me. It'd break my heart to come back from fighting space monsters and find an empty house when I'd had plans to have a gorgeous redhead here all weekend."

"Could I come and fight space monsters with you? I'm pretty good in a fight."

"So I've heard. This is a solo gig though." It didn't necessarily have to be, but Hal didn't want the responsibility of dragging a kid with no powers across the universe. "Maybe next time though." He sat down on the end of the bed and leaned in for a kiss. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay."

Roy still looked upset. It broke Hal's heart a little to leave him like that, but he didn't see much choice. He tried to smile bracingly when he looked backwards at Roy before taking off into the air. The kid's sad blue eyes were probably going to stay with him all through the mission.


End file.
